World

Metadata of Australians may be stored for two years under new law

UPDATE: The Labor Opposition announced on Thursday afternoon it will not debate the bill in the House of Representatives until 2015.

SYDNEY — The metadata of Australians is proposed to be stored by telecommunication companies and internet service providers for two years, under new legislation introduced to Parliament by the Australian government.

On Thursday morning, mandatory data-retention legislation, outlined in the Telecommunications Amendment Bill, was introduced by Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull to the House of Representatives.

"Modern communications technologies have revolutionised the ability of people to communicate, collaborate and express themselves," Turnbull told Parliament. "Sadly, however, these same technologies are routinely misused and exploited by serious criminals and people engaged in activities prejudicial to security as a core part of their modus operandi."

Metadata is generally defined as the time, date and location of calls and emails.

Turnbull noted that telecommunications data plays a "central role to almost every counter-terrorism, counter-espionage, cyber-security and organised crime investigation. It is also used in almost all serious criminal investigations, including investigations into murder, serious sexual assaults, drug trafficking and kidnapping."

The legislation will require companies to retain their customer's metadata from phone activity and internet usage and allow an "enforcement agency" access to the data without a warrant.

An explanation of the bill released by Parliament also stated browsing history and mobile phone content will be excluded. The accessing of content, such as the written part of an email, the actual conversation between two parties in a phone call, the subject line of an email or a private social media post, will still require a warrant.

The bill does not give security agencies new powers, but rather allows previously retained data to remain available due to a longer period of preservation, government officials said during a press conference. This would allow investigations to not be stifled by old data that had already been deleted, authorities stated.

"It is not creating new classes of data to be retained, it is seeking to ensure the ability of our law enforcement agencies isn't diminished," Turnbull said. "There is nothing new about it."

The bill will only allow law enforcement agencies access to the data, such as the police, customs, crime commissions and anti-corruption bodies. Any changes to this will need to be approved by the parliament.

Telecommunication and internet companies have said they are concerned they will bear the brunt of the new bill, due to the cost of retaining data for a long period. This could lead to higher internet bills. The government has said it will work with organisations to implement the changes over an 18-month period after the introduction of the law.

iiNet Chief Regulator Officer Steve Dalby said at the #StopDataRetention forum at Parliament House on Wednesday the company would suffer if the legislation is passed and called on the government to make details more transparent.

"What we have seen in this approach to metadata is a complete lack of a business-like approach. There is no case made, there is no evidence presented, there are no facts provided. There is simply just a suggestion it will save us from death and destruction," Dolby told the forum.

"The costs are not just financial, they are reputational as well. Our customers are not going to thank us when we start becoming an agent of the state and start surveilling their communications, so that someone in the future might benefit from it."

The forum included speakers from various affected industries, along with Greens' Sen. Scott Ludlam, Sen. Nick Xenophon and Sen. David Leyonhjelm, who are all opposed to the legislation in some form and called for more public discussion.

"To gather a huge amount of data per day that will never get utilised, it's a totally wasteful process. If it's going to cost us $500 million, $600 million to put this process in place, the government is going to have to spend as much as that again to extract useful information out of the metadata," Dalby said.

The bill has been put to the House of Representative with just two sitting weeks of Parliament left in this session. It is expected to be pushed through the legislative process and become law this year, despite the vocal opposition.

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